Through the Looking Glass (Chapters 13-14)
Title: "Through the Looking Glass"
Author: addictd2fiction
Summary: What really happened when Kara's viper disappeared?
Rating: T
Warnings: Crack! / Crossover / AU
Pairing: K/L
A/N: These two chappies are super action-packed. Enjoy!
Beta Credit goes to my friend sassafras1989, who is my friend, I love her, and if there's anything she wants to talk about, I'm here for her. (Wait, what was that middle part again?)
Disclaimer: I don't own "Battlestar Galactica" or "Alice in Wonderland," or else there'd be more Lee/Kara moments and Cheshire Cat appearances, respectively.
Chapter 13
The Hub was guarded by centurions on the outside, but Kara was surprised by how few of them there seemed to be. One would think that if this was the key to their resurrection, the Red Queen’s forces would try harder to protect it. Whatever, she thought, I guess that’s better for us.
She and Lee were crouched in some bushes scouting out the location while the rest of Roslin’s forces were hidden in the woods. Lee mistook her silent focus for anxiety. “Kara, everyone gets rattled.” He smiled. “Even the best.”
Kara stared at him for a minute. She didn’t feel rattled at all, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to have this conversation with him again. It was too fresh, too painful. She decided to steer away from it. “I’m not rattled. We’re fine. Besides, there’s so few guards out there. I don’t think this will be a problem at all.”
As she got started to get up from her crouch, Lee grabbed her elbow and brought her back down. “That’s because they aren’t worried about anyone overtaking this fort.”
Kara snorted. “Seems pretty stupid of them. Why’s that?”
“The Jabberwocky.”
“Ah. Well anyways, let’s get going. No use in delaying it anymore.” Lee nodded and let go of her elbow, and they both headed back to rendezvous with Adama.
When they reached him, Adama had already scattered most of his forces throughout the edges of the forest surrounded the fortress. The Hub was in the middle of a broad expanse of plain, which was completely encircled by woods. There would be no sneaking up on it, but the good news was that there was no way to send for reinforcements either.
“The Knave of Hearts does have other ways to communicate, though,” interrupted Athena as Adama outlined the battle plan. Everyone looked at her, and surprisingly she didn’t shy back. “Contrariwise, some of his agents are able to talk with him through the Pool of Tears if need be. It requires one to be in despair, but being confined in a besieged fort would do the trick for that, I’d think.”
“Right…” Lee said, looking around. “Well, we’ll just have to be quick about our work, then.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Kara asked, smiling. “Let’s get this party started!”
“Long live the White Queen!” Adama said, echoed by the surrounding troops.
“So say we all,” Kara said wistfully, turning around to find her horse.
* * *
Kara sat on her horse, shifting as she got used to the weight of her armor. Her hand drifted to where the Vorpal Sword sat on her hip, and she leaned forward to pat her horse on its flank. She hadn’t ridden a horse before, and between that and her night with Lee, her thighs were killing her. Kara smirked.
Next to her, Lee leaned over. “Kara,” he whispered. When she glanced at him, he smiled. “Just remember: I’ll fly your wing… even when we’re not flying.”
Before Kara could reply, a horn suddenly bellowed from across the plain, where she knew Adama was leading a group towards the fort. With that, yelling began around her, and while Kara knew that these war-cries were meant to strike fear in the hearts of the Red Guards, she couldn’t help but think it was a little bit stupid. She gave a little whoop, and then, smiling, yelled louder. Stupid, perhaps, but definitely fun. And with that, the line broke and Roslin’s army barreled forward.
Kara drew the sword from her hip. She saw centurions flooding onto the plane from the Hub, ready to fight them off. As soon as they drew near, her horse let off a burst of speed that Kara wasn’t quite prepared for, and the first few swings of her sword were clumsy and lacking power. She managed to take down one centurion completely on accident, catching him in the back-half of her swing, but she quickly adapted to the weapon.
Her blade seemed to hum in her hand, and she was quickly able to swing it at the perfect moment to slash down and decapitate any centurions unfortunate enough to get close to her. It was almost like the sword had a mind of its own, and it thirsted for blood. Or oil, Kara thought, or whatever the frak it is that toasters have inside them.
“You having fun yet?” Kara heard a voice call from behind her. Quickly, she spared a glance and her eyes alighted on Lee, who was jabbing at centurions with his wicked-looking knife. She watched as a soldier thrust a spear at him and he responded by deftly whipping off his hat to deflect the jab. With his right hand he pulled the spear out and sent it straight back at the centurion, which crumpled to the ground. Lee then paused in his efforts to examine his hat. “Damn it,” he growled, tracing the hole the spear had made before setting it back on his head.
Kara laughed. “Maybe not as much fun as you!” She called. “Don’t worry, Lee. I think you might be better off without that hat anyways. It makes your hair stick up all funny!” Lee scowled at her, and she turned just in time to avoid another cylon spear before striking with her sword.
It looked like this would be a fairly quick battle after all. With Adama’s troops cutting down centurions on one side, and her soldiers fighting from the other, they were bound to meet up soon in order to storm the Hub.
But then a deep and very loud groan cut through the sounds of battle cries and clanging weapons. Kara winced. All around her, the centurions kept fighting, but Roslin’s army had all paused. Suddenly, a spray of bullets rained down on the field, and Kara’s horse reared, completely spooked.
Kara was confused. I thought there were no guns in this world. As she tried to calm her mount down, a shadow passed overhead. Looking up, she saw a cylon raider flying through the air, shooting as it went. “The Jabberwocky,” a random White Guard sputtered. Kara spared her a glance, and then readied herself to fight it.
When it headed her way, Kara steered her horse to the side, but not before she had gotten a good look at the raider. It looked like any standard cylon fighter, except that it had some markings that bespoke of this world. It had seven hearts on the underside of one wing, and a “7” under the other. It had the same roving red eye, and the same bullets as it would back in her world. And most importantly, it had a crack running down from the top of its head straight through where its right eye would have been, and it seemed angry.
“Scar!” she whispered to herself, before screaming at it, “You metal motherfrakker! I’ve got a bone to pick with you!”
Scar seemed to cut around in the air until it was headed towards her. Surprisingly, a deep voice bit out from the raider, and Kara found herself shocked that it was addressing her. “So my old foe, we meet on the battlefield once again.”
“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because I let Kat kill you before!”
“Not you, insignificant bearer,” Scar groaned out, still shooting as Kara dodged. “My ancient enemy: the Vorpal one.”
Kara was slightly offended, and her blade seemed annoyed as well, as it pulsed in her hand. Scar neared her, flying close to the ground as if to slam into her and her horse. “All right,” she spat, “That’s enough chatter.”
With that, Kara slashed out and caught Scar on the underside of one of his wings as her horse danced sideways. A metallic screaming split the air, and Scar reared, shooting straight up through the air. Kara smiled, looking at her sword. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.” The sword seemed to hum in agreement.
Kara’s joy was cut short, however, when a spear suddenly grazed her leg and stabbed deeply into the left flank of her horse. Her mount shot up onto its hindlegs, and suddenly fell over on its side. Kara’s leg was pinned, and she desperately tried to get out from underneath the flailing horse. She saw a centurion rushing towards her, spear focused straight between her eyes. This was it. She was going to die here. Guess I wasn’t Alice after all, she thought, closing her eyes.
Five seconds later, she was still alive, so she opened her eyes to see what was happening. The same centurion that had been rushing at her seemed to have been intersected by Sam, who was standing in front of her dying horse, grappling with the spear. “Kara!” he shouted. “Get up!”
Right. Kara pulled again, but her leg was still pinned; she couldn’t get it out. Sam was able to overcome his foe, and he sliced its throat. Dashing over to her, he helped pull her out. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“This’ll bruise like crazy, but I think I’m fine.” Kara tried putting weight on her leg, and while it hurt, she felt like it couldn’t have been badly injured. Thank gods for this armor. She looked over at Sam, who was still staring at her. “Thanks, Sam. I owe you one.”
Sam smiled, but his facial expression suddenly shifted to one of horror. Before Kara could ask what was wrong, he had pushed her to the side, and Kara slammed into the ground. Above her, she heard a stream of bullets whistling through the air and slamming into the ground. When she looked up, Sam was lying on the ground, blood rushing out of a wound in his head. “Sam!” she screamed, rushing over to him.
She tried to apply pressure to the wound, but there wasn’t much she could do. Blood covered her armor, and Kara almost seemed to forget the battle raging around her. “Sam,” she cried, feeling guilty and upset and completely sick. “Why did you do that? You’re so stupid!”
Sam smiled, seemingly unaware of his lifeblood quickly draining from his body. He spoke then, his voice dead flat and very un-Sam-like. “Spins and turns, angles and curves. The shape of dreams half remembered. Slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of perfection - a perfect face, perfect lace. Find the perfect world for the end of Kara Thrace. End of line.” And then, with a smile, Sam’s eyes glazed over.
Time stopped for Kara as she cradled his head, overwhelmed. She was roused, moments or minutes later, by a voice calling her name. “Kara! Please, listen to me! Come back! Gods damnit, Kara - come back!” She looked up and saw Lee screaming at her from across the plain, fighting his way towards her. She kissed Sam’s cheek and gently laid him down, and then stood up, grabbing her sword.
Covered in blood and in a rage, Kara stepped aside as a spray of bullets hit directly next to her, dirt flying up in the process. Scar flew around, and then made a turn, heading directly for Kara. “C’mon, you frakking toaster,” she whispered. “C’mon.”
As Scar flew closer and closer, coming lower and lower to the ground, Kara started running forward, brandishing the Vorpal Sword. “How does it feel, you bastard? One of us has to pull up, and it sure isn’t going to be me!”
Scar was only inches above the ground now, flying directly at Kara. Just as they were about to collide, Kara gave a wild cry and leaped up. The Vorpal Sword pulsed and flashed as she swung it, and as Kara flew up above Scar, it embedded itself in one wing.
The cylon raider known as the Jabberwocky gave a loud, deep scream as the sword bit down into its metal wing, and it shot up into the air. Kara clung to the Vorpal Sword, which was fixed deeply in the wing. “You killed him, you son-of-a-bitch! You killed so many of them!”
Scar swerved in the air, and Kara gripped her blade even tighter. The cylon raider was heading straight for the Hub, almost as if it was trying to smash straight through… Kara realized that Scar was willing to go Kamikaze all over her ass as long as it meant her death as well. Well, she thought, At least I’ll have killed the godsdamned Jabberwocky.
As they were heading straight towards the fort, Kara grasped the hilt of the Vorpal Sword with both hands, slowly but surely pulling it from Scar’s wing. As she finally got it out, she reached up with both hands. “Resurrect after this, bitch,” she whispered, and then with all of her strength, she drove the Vorpal Sword straight down into the top of the raider’s head, and they both crashed through the roof of the Hub.
Chapter 14
Kara’s arms hurt from how hard she had thrust the sword downwards into Scar’s skull, and her hands ached from gripping the hilt. She held on, though, as the raider crashed through the roof and skidded across the marble floor below. As Scar came to a halt, it gave one last deep groan, before its red roving eye suddenly flickered out. Kara, breathing hard, allowed herself to collapse on top of it.
She shuddered, a silent sob wracking her body. She was relieved that Scar was dead, but she felt completely responsible for the deaths it had caused. Sam. Sam was dead, and it was all her fault. She swallowed hard.
Lifting her head, she looked around. There were no centurions anywhere in sight. Kara sneered, realizing that all forces had been deployed outside to fight against Roslin’s army. Cocky bastards all thought that the Jabberwocky would never allow anyone through, and they could just keep resurrecting and walking outside again.
Gathering her wits, Kara stood up. She put both hands back onto the hilt of the Vorpal Sword and pulled hard. After a minute of yanking, the sword started to slide loose. It seemed bright with life. “Happy, are you?” Kara asked the blade, looking for somewhere to wipe it clean.
She hopped off and walked down the corridor, away from the Jabberwocky. She saw white roses blooming on either side of the hallway, and she wiped the sword on the petals, smearing them with red. “Flowers?” she asked herself. They were a little incongruous.
“The Queen wanted roses to create a comforting ambiance for those recently resurrected,” a deep voice said from behind Kara. Spinning around, she found herself facing Leoben, still sporting the gold pocket-watch, still wearing that straight waistcoat, and still attached to those ridiculous white bunny ears. He looked much calmer now than he had when she had first appeared in Wonderland, though. “Unfortunately, she wanted red roses, and she was quite angry when she found out that these were white.”
“What?” Kara asked suspiciously, brandishing the Vorpal Sword.
“She wanted red roses. She was in the midst of making some of her subjects paint these ones red, actually.” He gestured to buckets and buckets of red paint hidden between the stems of the flowers, and Kara snorted. What a ridiculous notion.
Putting her sword by her side, Kara walked closer to Leoben. “What am I doing here?”
Leoben smiled wryly at her. “Well, I’d have to assume that you’re here to take out the Red Queen’s only way of resurrecting her armies.”
“No. I don’t mean what am I doing here, right now. I mean what am I doing here, in this world. You told me that this was the next step of my journey, but what does any of this have to do with anything?”
“You will lead us to the end, Kara Thrace. You’re here because you’re needed here, and whatever you do here will prepare you for the next step of your journey elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” So maybe she would make it back home, then. “You mean back through the Looking Glass.”
Leoben shrugged, one of his ears twitching. “Perhaps. But first, we need you to show us the way here. Without a doubt, you are Alice. You will take back Wonderland.”
“I thought you were on the Red Queen’s side.”
Leoben looked uncomfortable. “She is… not herself. Both she and Wonderland need you more than you think.”
Kara shifted. She looked around her, and saw beyond the corridor of roses what looked to be a huge room full of tubs and tubes. In the center was a huge column. She pointed to it. “What’s that?”
Leoben looked into the huge room, and he walked closer to Kara. She tensed, and he lifted one brow at her. “That’s the main room of the Hub, where agents of the Queen are resurrected. That column is what energizes the whole facility.”
Hmm. “So we need to blow that up, then.” Kara smiled. She was looking forward to this. But how to go about doing it… “We’ll use the cylon raider to shoot at it until it explodes.”
“Once you blow it up, you will not have time to escape. The explosion will happen too quickly.”
Kara thought for a minute, then gestured at Scar. “We’ll just have to hope that this frakker can fly us out faster than the explosion.”
Leoben tilted his head, one of his ears flopping comically over his face. He pushed it aside. “How will you fly it?”
“I’ve flown one before. It’s been a while, but I’m the best pilot we’ve got, so I’ll have to do.” She flashed her teeth at him in a distinctly Cheshire Cat fashion. “Unless you know how to fly?”
He shook his head. “But your friends out there are winning; I feel certain they could take us down if we try to land near them and they think we are the Jabberwocky.”
Kara looked around her before her eyes suddenly fell on the red paint. Her face lit up. “I’ve got an idea.”
* * *
A short time later, Leoben and Kara were situated inside the cylon raider. She flicked her hands disgustedly. “I forgot how slimy these guys were on the inside.”
Leoben shot her a look. “They’re living creatures too, Kara.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, trying to remember which parts to pull in order to shoot and fly. Once she had fiddled around with everything for a bit, she deemed everything in order to get going with her plan. “All right. You ready, bunny?”
“I’m a rabbit,” Leoben said indignantly. Kara shrugged. Whatever.
The raider suddenly rose in the air, and the Vorpal Sword laying by Kara’s side seemed completely put out that it was inside its number one nemesis. It hummed in what Kara could only assume was an irritated manner. “You sure are moody, aren’t ya?” Kara murmured, her hand stroking reassuringly along its hilt until the blade seemed to calm down. If Gaius were here, he would definitely point out that she was indeed finally mad to be worrying over the temperament of a sword.
“Let’s do this, then.” With that, Kara pulled on a tube inside of Scar, and the raider rose into the air. Stationing it so that it was lined up with the hole they had crashed through upon entering the Hub, Kara turned her attention to the huge column in the center of the large room. She prepared herself for what was to come.
As Kara placed her hand on the tube that would trigger the gunfire, Leoben spoke up behind her. “Now what?” he asked.
Kara glanced back at him, and then whispered, “Boom.” She pulled the trigger and let the bullets fly.
* * *
Outside the Hub, Adama and the White Queen’s troops were taking down the last few of the Red Guards. Adama cut down a centurion with his sword, and then wiped his blade on the grass. He walked up to Lee, who was just finishing off a kill nearby. When Lee was done, Adama clasped him on the shoulder. Lee jumped slightly.
“Good job, Hatter. I’d say we cleaned up pretty well here.”
Lee gave a rueful smile. “I’d say we did, Old Man.”
Adama gave a gruff smile, releasing Lee’s shoulder. “Where is Starbuck? We need to destroy the fort.”
Lee’s smile faltered. “She and the Jabberwocky crashed through the roof over there. That was a while ago. Neither have come out.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to go in after her, now won’t we?”
Suddenly, both men were blown off their feet as the fort suddenly exploded. Just as the fiery outburst spewed smoke and debris high into the sky, the Jabberwocky flew out, glinting against the explosion. It screamed by overhead, coming back around again.
Adama was on his feet. “The Jabberwocky is still alive! Everyone prepare to attack!” The White Queen’s troops gathered themselves, ready to fight on against the Red Queen’s most deadly weapon.
Lee found it odd that the Jabberwocky wasn’t firing yet. He squinted as he observed it closely. He could almost make out…
“Wait! Stop!” he shouted, waving his arms. “Drop your weapons! Don’t attack!”
“What is going on, Hatter?” Adama asked. “Are you mad?”
Lee grinned. “Yes, sir. But that’s no Jabberwocky. That’s Starbuck!”
“What?”
Just then, the Jabberwocky flew overhead once more, but under its right wing the word “STAR” was painted in red, while the word “BUCK” was painted under the left. Lee laughed, remembering how Kara had used this same tactic in some of his more distant memories. Clever girl.
The Jabberwocky landed some ways away across the plain, and Lee started running, rushing to meet it. As he neared it, he saw Kara climbing out, followed by the White Rabbit. She was putting the Vorpal Sword back into its hilt on her hip, and just as she finished, Lee swept her off her feet, placing his lips soundly on hers.
“I thought you were dead,” he whispered against her mouth.
She laughed, her hands on his shoulders. “For a second there, so did I.” She looked back at the raider. “Like my new toy?”
“When you take a souvenir, you don’t screw around.”
When Adama walked up, Lee released Kara and took a step backwards. “Good job, Starbuck,” Adama said.
“Thank you, sir.”
“You think we’re ready to take on the Red Palace right now?” Lee asked.
“I think that it’s better we fight them sooner than later. They’ll be hurting knowing the Hub was destroyed.” Adama said. He looked at Kara again. “What do you think, Starbuck. Got a plan?”
Kara grinned. “Fight ‘em til we can’t.”
Author: addictd2fiction
Summary: What really happened when Kara's viper disappeared?
Rating: T
Warnings: Crack! / Crossover / AU
Pairing: K/L
A/N: These two chappies are super action-packed. Enjoy!
Beta Credit goes to my friend sassafras1989, who is my friend, I love her, and if there's anything she wants to talk about, I'm here for her. (Wait, what was that middle part again?)
Disclaimer: I don't own "Battlestar Galactica" or "Alice in Wonderland," or else there'd be more Lee/Kara moments and Cheshire Cat appearances, respectively.
Chapter 13
The Hub was guarded by centurions on the outside, but Kara was surprised by how few of them there seemed to be. One would think that if this was the key to their resurrection, the Red Queen’s forces would try harder to protect it. Whatever, she thought, I guess that’s better for us.
She and Lee were crouched in some bushes scouting out the location while the rest of Roslin’s forces were hidden in the woods. Lee mistook her silent focus for anxiety. “Kara, everyone gets rattled.” He smiled. “Even the best.”
Kara stared at him for a minute. She didn’t feel rattled at all, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to have this conversation with him again. It was too fresh, too painful. She decided to steer away from it. “I’m not rattled. We’re fine. Besides, there’s so few guards out there. I don’t think this will be a problem at all.”
As she got started to get up from her crouch, Lee grabbed her elbow and brought her back down. “That’s because they aren’t worried about anyone overtaking this fort.”
Kara snorted. “Seems pretty stupid of them. Why’s that?”
“The Jabberwocky.”
“Ah. Well anyways, let’s get going. No use in delaying it anymore.” Lee nodded and let go of her elbow, and they both headed back to rendezvous with Adama.
When they reached him, Adama had already scattered most of his forces throughout the edges of the forest surrounded the fortress. The Hub was in the middle of a broad expanse of plain, which was completely encircled by woods. There would be no sneaking up on it, but the good news was that there was no way to send for reinforcements either.
“The Knave of Hearts does have other ways to communicate, though,” interrupted Athena as Adama outlined the battle plan. Everyone looked at her, and surprisingly she didn’t shy back. “Contrariwise, some of his agents are able to talk with him through the Pool of Tears if need be. It requires one to be in despair, but being confined in a besieged fort would do the trick for that, I’d think.”
“Right…” Lee said, looking around. “Well, we’ll just have to be quick about our work, then.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Kara asked, smiling. “Let’s get this party started!”
“Long live the White Queen!” Adama said, echoed by the surrounding troops.
“So say we all,” Kara said wistfully, turning around to find her horse.
* * *
Kara sat on her horse, shifting as she got used to the weight of her armor. Her hand drifted to where the Vorpal Sword sat on her hip, and she leaned forward to pat her horse on its flank. She hadn’t ridden a horse before, and between that and her night with Lee, her thighs were killing her. Kara smirked.
Next to her, Lee leaned over. “Kara,” he whispered. When she glanced at him, he smiled. “Just remember: I’ll fly your wing… even when we’re not flying.”
Before Kara could reply, a horn suddenly bellowed from across the plain, where she knew Adama was leading a group towards the fort. With that, yelling began around her, and while Kara knew that these war-cries were meant to strike fear in the hearts of the Red Guards, she couldn’t help but think it was a little bit stupid. She gave a little whoop, and then, smiling, yelled louder. Stupid, perhaps, but definitely fun. And with that, the line broke and Roslin’s army barreled forward.
Kara drew the sword from her hip. She saw centurions flooding onto the plane from the Hub, ready to fight them off. As soon as they drew near, her horse let off a burst of speed that Kara wasn’t quite prepared for, and the first few swings of her sword were clumsy and lacking power. She managed to take down one centurion completely on accident, catching him in the back-half of her swing, but she quickly adapted to the weapon.
Her blade seemed to hum in her hand, and she was quickly able to swing it at the perfect moment to slash down and decapitate any centurions unfortunate enough to get close to her. It was almost like the sword had a mind of its own, and it thirsted for blood. Or oil, Kara thought, or whatever the frak it is that toasters have inside them.
“You having fun yet?” Kara heard a voice call from behind her. Quickly, she spared a glance and her eyes alighted on Lee, who was jabbing at centurions with his wicked-looking knife. She watched as a soldier thrust a spear at him and he responded by deftly whipping off his hat to deflect the jab. With his right hand he pulled the spear out and sent it straight back at the centurion, which crumpled to the ground. Lee then paused in his efforts to examine his hat. “Damn it,” he growled, tracing the hole the spear had made before setting it back on his head.
Kara laughed. “Maybe not as much fun as you!” She called. “Don’t worry, Lee. I think you might be better off without that hat anyways. It makes your hair stick up all funny!” Lee scowled at her, and she turned just in time to avoid another cylon spear before striking with her sword.
It looked like this would be a fairly quick battle after all. With Adama’s troops cutting down centurions on one side, and her soldiers fighting from the other, they were bound to meet up soon in order to storm the Hub.
But then a deep and very loud groan cut through the sounds of battle cries and clanging weapons. Kara winced. All around her, the centurions kept fighting, but Roslin’s army had all paused. Suddenly, a spray of bullets rained down on the field, and Kara’s horse reared, completely spooked.
Kara was confused. I thought there were no guns in this world. As she tried to calm her mount down, a shadow passed overhead. Looking up, she saw a cylon raider flying through the air, shooting as it went. “The Jabberwocky,” a random White Guard sputtered. Kara spared her a glance, and then readied herself to fight it.
When it headed her way, Kara steered her horse to the side, but not before she had gotten a good look at the raider. It looked like any standard cylon fighter, except that it had some markings that bespoke of this world. It had seven hearts on the underside of one wing, and a “7” under the other. It had the same roving red eye, and the same bullets as it would back in her world. And most importantly, it had a crack running down from the top of its head straight through where its right eye would have been, and it seemed angry.
“Scar!” she whispered to herself, before screaming at it, “You metal motherfrakker! I’ve got a bone to pick with you!”
Scar seemed to cut around in the air until it was headed towards her. Surprisingly, a deep voice bit out from the raider, and Kara found herself shocked that it was addressing her. “So my old foe, we meet on the battlefield once again.”
“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because I let Kat kill you before!”
“Not you, insignificant bearer,” Scar groaned out, still shooting as Kara dodged. “My ancient enemy: the Vorpal one.”
Kara was slightly offended, and her blade seemed annoyed as well, as it pulsed in her hand. Scar neared her, flying close to the ground as if to slam into her and her horse. “All right,” she spat, “That’s enough chatter.”
With that, Kara slashed out and caught Scar on the underside of one of his wings as her horse danced sideways. A metallic screaming split the air, and Scar reared, shooting straight up through the air. Kara smiled, looking at her sword. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.” The sword seemed to hum in agreement.
Kara’s joy was cut short, however, when a spear suddenly grazed her leg and stabbed deeply into the left flank of her horse. Her mount shot up onto its hindlegs, and suddenly fell over on its side. Kara’s leg was pinned, and she desperately tried to get out from underneath the flailing horse. She saw a centurion rushing towards her, spear focused straight between her eyes. This was it. She was going to die here. Guess I wasn’t Alice after all, she thought, closing her eyes.
Five seconds later, she was still alive, so she opened her eyes to see what was happening. The same centurion that had been rushing at her seemed to have been intersected by Sam, who was standing in front of her dying horse, grappling with the spear. “Kara!” he shouted. “Get up!”
Right. Kara pulled again, but her leg was still pinned; she couldn’t get it out. Sam was able to overcome his foe, and he sliced its throat. Dashing over to her, he helped pull her out. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“This’ll bruise like crazy, but I think I’m fine.” Kara tried putting weight on her leg, and while it hurt, she felt like it couldn’t have been badly injured. Thank gods for this armor. She looked over at Sam, who was still staring at her. “Thanks, Sam. I owe you one.”
Sam smiled, but his facial expression suddenly shifted to one of horror. Before Kara could ask what was wrong, he had pushed her to the side, and Kara slammed into the ground. Above her, she heard a stream of bullets whistling through the air and slamming into the ground. When she looked up, Sam was lying on the ground, blood rushing out of a wound in his head. “Sam!” she screamed, rushing over to him.
She tried to apply pressure to the wound, but there wasn’t much she could do. Blood covered her armor, and Kara almost seemed to forget the battle raging around her. “Sam,” she cried, feeling guilty and upset and completely sick. “Why did you do that? You’re so stupid!”
Sam smiled, seemingly unaware of his lifeblood quickly draining from his body. He spoke then, his voice dead flat and very un-Sam-like. “Spins and turns, angles and curves. The shape of dreams half remembered. Slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of perfection - a perfect face, perfect lace. Find the perfect world for the end of Kara Thrace. End of line.” And then, with a smile, Sam’s eyes glazed over.
Time stopped for Kara as she cradled his head, overwhelmed. She was roused, moments or minutes later, by a voice calling her name. “Kara! Please, listen to me! Come back! Gods damnit, Kara - come back!” She looked up and saw Lee screaming at her from across the plain, fighting his way towards her. She kissed Sam’s cheek and gently laid him down, and then stood up, grabbing her sword.
Covered in blood and in a rage, Kara stepped aside as a spray of bullets hit directly next to her, dirt flying up in the process. Scar flew around, and then made a turn, heading directly for Kara. “C’mon, you frakking toaster,” she whispered. “C’mon.”
As Scar flew closer and closer, coming lower and lower to the ground, Kara started running forward, brandishing the Vorpal Sword. “How does it feel, you bastard? One of us has to pull up, and it sure isn’t going to be me!”
Scar was only inches above the ground now, flying directly at Kara. Just as they were about to collide, Kara gave a wild cry and leaped up. The Vorpal Sword pulsed and flashed as she swung it, and as Kara flew up above Scar, it embedded itself in one wing.
The cylon raider known as the Jabberwocky gave a loud, deep scream as the sword bit down into its metal wing, and it shot up into the air. Kara clung to the Vorpal Sword, which was fixed deeply in the wing. “You killed him, you son-of-a-bitch! You killed so many of them!”
Scar swerved in the air, and Kara gripped her blade even tighter. The cylon raider was heading straight for the Hub, almost as if it was trying to smash straight through… Kara realized that Scar was willing to go Kamikaze all over her ass as long as it meant her death as well. Well, she thought, At least I’ll have killed the godsdamned Jabberwocky.
As they were heading straight towards the fort, Kara grasped the hilt of the Vorpal Sword with both hands, slowly but surely pulling it from Scar’s wing. As she finally got it out, she reached up with both hands. “Resurrect after this, bitch,” she whispered, and then with all of her strength, she drove the Vorpal Sword straight down into the top of the raider’s head, and they both crashed through the roof of the Hub.
Chapter 14
Kara’s arms hurt from how hard she had thrust the sword downwards into Scar’s skull, and her hands ached from gripping the hilt. She held on, though, as the raider crashed through the roof and skidded across the marble floor below. As Scar came to a halt, it gave one last deep groan, before its red roving eye suddenly flickered out. Kara, breathing hard, allowed herself to collapse on top of it.
She shuddered, a silent sob wracking her body. She was relieved that Scar was dead, but she felt completely responsible for the deaths it had caused. Sam. Sam was dead, and it was all her fault. She swallowed hard.
Lifting her head, she looked around. There were no centurions anywhere in sight. Kara sneered, realizing that all forces had been deployed outside to fight against Roslin’s army. Cocky bastards all thought that the Jabberwocky would never allow anyone through, and they could just keep resurrecting and walking outside again.
Gathering her wits, Kara stood up. She put both hands back onto the hilt of the Vorpal Sword and pulled hard. After a minute of yanking, the sword started to slide loose. It seemed bright with life. “Happy, are you?” Kara asked the blade, looking for somewhere to wipe it clean.
She hopped off and walked down the corridor, away from the Jabberwocky. She saw white roses blooming on either side of the hallway, and she wiped the sword on the petals, smearing them with red. “Flowers?” she asked herself. They were a little incongruous.
“The Queen wanted roses to create a comforting ambiance for those recently resurrected,” a deep voice said from behind Kara. Spinning around, she found herself facing Leoben, still sporting the gold pocket-watch, still wearing that straight waistcoat, and still attached to those ridiculous white bunny ears. He looked much calmer now than he had when she had first appeared in Wonderland, though. “Unfortunately, she wanted red roses, and she was quite angry when she found out that these were white.”
“What?” Kara asked suspiciously, brandishing the Vorpal Sword.
“She wanted red roses. She was in the midst of making some of her subjects paint these ones red, actually.” He gestured to buckets and buckets of red paint hidden between the stems of the flowers, and Kara snorted. What a ridiculous notion.
Putting her sword by her side, Kara walked closer to Leoben. “What am I doing here?”
Leoben smiled wryly at her. “Well, I’d have to assume that you’re here to take out the Red Queen’s only way of resurrecting her armies.”
“No. I don’t mean what am I doing here, right now. I mean what am I doing here, in this world. You told me that this was the next step of my journey, but what does any of this have to do with anything?”
“You will lead us to the end, Kara Thrace. You’re here because you’re needed here, and whatever you do here will prepare you for the next step of your journey elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” So maybe she would make it back home, then. “You mean back through the Looking Glass.”
Leoben shrugged, one of his ears twitching. “Perhaps. But first, we need you to show us the way here. Without a doubt, you are Alice. You will take back Wonderland.”
“I thought you were on the Red Queen’s side.”
Leoben looked uncomfortable. “She is… not herself. Both she and Wonderland need you more than you think.”
Kara shifted. She looked around her, and saw beyond the corridor of roses what looked to be a huge room full of tubs and tubes. In the center was a huge column. She pointed to it. “What’s that?”
Leoben looked into the huge room, and he walked closer to Kara. She tensed, and he lifted one brow at her. “That’s the main room of the Hub, where agents of the Queen are resurrected. That column is what energizes the whole facility.”
Hmm. “So we need to blow that up, then.” Kara smiled. She was looking forward to this. But how to go about doing it… “We’ll use the cylon raider to shoot at it until it explodes.”
“Once you blow it up, you will not have time to escape. The explosion will happen too quickly.”
Kara thought for a minute, then gestured at Scar. “We’ll just have to hope that this frakker can fly us out faster than the explosion.”
Leoben tilted his head, one of his ears flopping comically over his face. He pushed it aside. “How will you fly it?”
“I’ve flown one before. It’s been a while, but I’m the best pilot we’ve got, so I’ll have to do.” She flashed her teeth at him in a distinctly Cheshire Cat fashion. “Unless you know how to fly?”
He shook his head. “But your friends out there are winning; I feel certain they could take us down if we try to land near them and they think we are the Jabberwocky.”
Kara looked around her before her eyes suddenly fell on the red paint. Her face lit up. “I’ve got an idea.”
* * *
A short time later, Leoben and Kara were situated inside the cylon raider. She flicked her hands disgustedly. “I forgot how slimy these guys were on the inside.”
Leoben shot her a look. “They’re living creatures too, Kara.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, trying to remember which parts to pull in order to shoot and fly. Once she had fiddled around with everything for a bit, she deemed everything in order to get going with her plan. “All right. You ready, bunny?”
“I’m a rabbit,” Leoben said indignantly. Kara shrugged. Whatever.
The raider suddenly rose in the air, and the Vorpal Sword laying by Kara’s side seemed completely put out that it was inside its number one nemesis. It hummed in what Kara could only assume was an irritated manner. “You sure are moody, aren’t ya?” Kara murmured, her hand stroking reassuringly along its hilt until the blade seemed to calm down. If Gaius were here, he would definitely point out that she was indeed finally mad to be worrying over the temperament of a sword.
“Let’s do this, then.” With that, Kara pulled on a tube inside of Scar, and the raider rose into the air. Stationing it so that it was lined up with the hole they had crashed through upon entering the Hub, Kara turned her attention to the huge column in the center of the large room. She prepared herself for what was to come.
As Kara placed her hand on the tube that would trigger the gunfire, Leoben spoke up behind her. “Now what?” he asked.
Kara glanced back at him, and then whispered, “Boom.” She pulled the trigger and let the bullets fly.
* * *
Outside the Hub, Adama and the White Queen’s troops were taking down the last few of the Red Guards. Adama cut down a centurion with his sword, and then wiped his blade on the grass. He walked up to Lee, who was just finishing off a kill nearby. When Lee was done, Adama clasped him on the shoulder. Lee jumped slightly.
“Good job, Hatter. I’d say we cleaned up pretty well here.”
Lee gave a rueful smile. “I’d say we did, Old Man.”
Adama gave a gruff smile, releasing Lee’s shoulder. “Where is Starbuck? We need to destroy the fort.”
Lee’s smile faltered. “She and the Jabberwocky crashed through the roof over there. That was a while ago. Neither have come out.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to go in after her, now won’t we?”
Suddenly, both men were blown off their feet as the fort suddenly exploded. Just as the fiery outburst spewed smoke and debris high into the sky, the Jabberwocky flew out, glinting against the explosion. It screamed by overhead, coming back around again.
Adama was on his feet. “The Jabberwocky is still alive! Everyone prepare to attack!” The White Queen’s troops gathered themselves, ready to fight on against the Red Queen’s most deadly weapon.
Lee found it odd that the Jabberwocky wasn’t firing yet. He squinted as he observed it closely. He could almost make out…
“Wait! Stop!” he shouted, waving his arms. “Drop your weapons! Don’t attack!”
“What is going on, Hatter?” Adama asked. “Are you mad?”
Lee grinned. “Yes, sir. But that’s no Jabberwocky. That’s Starbuck!”
“What?”
Just then, the Jabberwocky flew overhead once more, but under its right wing the word “STAR” was painted in red, while the word “BUCK” was painted under the left. Lee laughed, remembering how Kara had used this same tactic in some of his more distant memories. Clever girl.
The Jabberwocky landed some ways away across the plain, and Lee started running, rushing to meet it. As he neared it, he saw Kara climbing out, followed by the White Rabbit. She was putting the Vorpal Sword back into its hilt on her hip, and just as she finished, Lee swept her off her feet, placing his lips soundly on hers.
“I thought you were dead,” he whispered against her mouth.
She laughed, her hands on his shoulders. “For a second there, so did I.” She looked back at the raider. “Like my new toy?”
“When you take a souvenir, you don’t screw around.”
When Adama walked up, Lee released Kara and took a step backwards. “Good job, Starbuck,” Adama said.
“Thank you, sir.”
“You think we’re ready to take on the Red Palace right now?” Lee asked.
“I think that it’s better we fight them sooner than later. They’ll be hurting knowing the Hub was destroyed.” Adama said. He looked at Kara again. “What do you think, Starbuck. Got a plan?”
Kara grinned. “Fight ‘em til we can’t.”